The All Things Risk Podcast

The All Things Risk podcast explores the themes of risk, uncertainty and resilience as applied to sports, the arts, current affairs and just about any other domain. We feature long-form conversations with interesting guests who have loads of fascinating stories, tips and tools.

Today, we talk cycling, making decisions and taking risks with Monika Sattler. Monika is an adventure cyclist, writer and vlogger. Monika competed in this year’s Haute Route Alps. In fact, she actually completed the Haute Route Triple Crown – completing 21 days across the Alps, Pyrenees and Dolomites!

Monika is currently based in Griona, Spain – one of the world’s best cycling destinations. Girona is perfect for what Monika does – adventure cycling and inspiring others, especially women, to live their passions. Monika has completed numerous epic cycling challenges like the Haute Route, the Tour du Mont Blanc, and others.

We talk about all of that but there is much more to Monika than life on two wheels and this is a conversation that is much broader than cycling. It is about pursuing your passion, making decisions, mind set, taking risks, and loads more. Think about it, how do you make a living doing something like what Monika does? As you’ll hear, it is a non-linear path with lots of starts and stops along the way.

Monika is amazing and has a lot of great stuff to share. We cover:

Monika’s background, including moving from her native Germany to the USA to pursue a volleyball scholarship;

Getting into cycling and adventure racing, including a cool story;

Competing in her first pro race and in the women’s pro circuit in Europe;

Giving a prestigious career to pursue her passion – twice – first while she was working at the World Bank and second when she worked in management consulting;

Our latest episode is about the beauty and value of extremes. Extremes are fascinating. We face uncertainty at extremes, and we learn and discover at extremes. My guest today is all about that. Mark Hannaford is an entrepreneur, adventurer, and a veteran of many expeditions. He is the founder of World Extreme Medicine and Across the Divide. He is also the co-founder of the World Extreme Medicine Conference, taking place in a few weeks in Scotland.

Mark has been involved with numerous adventures and expeditions all over the world covering deserts, jungles, mountains and just about any other type of terrain. His company Across the Divide supports expeditions for a variety of organisations including the popular television show Survivor.

Along the way, Mark identified an acute need – how to provide medical support in these types of environments so that they can be successful. This led to his founding of World Extreme Medicine and we get into all of that.

However, this is a conversation about more than this. It is human nature to explore and learn at the edges of what is possible. Much of Marks’s work has involved bringing together scientists and practitioners to share insights and practices. We get into all of this and more in a conversation that covers:

Medical support in extreme environments;

Motivations of people who risk their lives to help others in these circumstances;